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New admin post filled by Weatherly Area

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WEATHERLY — School directors filled a new administrative position that will handle special education programs and other duties for less than half the cost of contracting the same services with Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21, according to Weatherly Area’s top administrator.

The school board voted 7-0 recently when appointing Gregory Mentzer to a $72,000 supervisor of special services post.

The position will handle the responsibilities of a special education supervisor under a different title, Superintendent Teresa Young said. The district has historically relied on in-house services or contracted with the intermediate unit for special education services, Young said.

The school board was considering contracting the services through the intermediate unit again next year, which would’ve cost more than $156,000 but Young said she felt the district could combine duties of a special education supervisor with some other responsibilities at a lower cost for Weatherly Area.

The special services position will handle all aspects of special education — including developing 504 plans and programs that include gifted, English as a Second Language, home liaison and federal programs, Young said.

District officials interviewed four candidates in March, re-advertised the position and interviewed four more candidates on June 9, Young said in an email to the Standard-Speaker.

Mentzer was appointed five days later by a 7-0 vote. School Director Brandon Pugh and Vice President Amy Potsko did not attend.

The school board introduced Mentzer shortly after he was appointed to the post.

In other personnel developments, the school board:

■ Approved tenure status for secondary guidance counselor Sarah Minnick and secondary social studies teacher Shane Moran. Each had completed three years of teaching with satisfactory ratings, according to resolutions approved by the board.

■ Approved re-appointments of Title I instructional aides Debra Spaide and Sharlene Strauss for 2017-18.

Spaide will receive $11.68 per hour, while Strauss will receive $11.18 per hour. Pay is set by contract.

The positions will be paid with Title I funds, which are generally allocated for providing services for low-income students.

The school board also voted to re-appoint Desiree Furmanchin to a 4.75-hour per-day high school special education aid at $8.66 per hour. Pay is set by contract.

■ Appointed 2017-18 coaches. Salaries were recently removed from the teachers’ contract, which gives the school board the ability to “reel in” salary increases that were previously awarded at the same frequency as teachers under the contract, school Director Matthew vonFrisch said.

Pay increases are awarded based on years of service, with coaches who served between one year and 10 years receiving a $25 increase and coaches with between 11 years and 20 years a $50 raise, he said.

Young said recently that the performance scale was not used to determine raises this year because of timing issues from when she was hired as superintendent. All four administrators received 2.75 percent raises, she said recently.

Contact the writer:

sgalski@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3586

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